Original Mac mini monitor question

[tl01]

My in laws have an original Mac mini and their monitor broke today. What type of connection do they need with a new monitor. Can anyone recommend a cheapish but decent monitor for them... Perhaps one with speakers. I'm sure something around 17 inches would be great.

 

[warvanov]

The easy answer would be to look at the monitor that broke and see what kind of connection it used.

The original Mac mini had a full size DVI port on the back and came with a VGA adapter, so either one of those would work.

newegg.com has a ton of cheap monitors (I was looking at HD widescreen 23" monitors yesterday and some were as low as $130) so look there, but there aren't any in particular I can recommend.

 

[tl01]

Problem is they are 1700 miles away so I can't see the computer or the old monitor. So a DVI monitor would be the easiest way to connect?

 

[danny_w]

I had an original Mini and IIRC it used a non-standard voltage level for the DVI signals which caused some displays to display's whites to have a yellow tint to them; the monitor I was using at the time had this issue. I then replaced it with a Dell 2005 I think and all was well. Unfortunately I don't know of any way to tell if a particular monitor will have the yellow issue without trying it.

 

[warvanov]

Can they tell you how they have it connected? They wouldn't necessarily have to know the difference between the cables. You can ask them if there's an adapter on the back of the mac mini that the cable plugs into or if it's a single cable. If it's a single cable ask them if it looks the same on both ends. That should help you figure out if they're using a VGA or a DVI monitor. Not that it should really matter, because either one would work, but if you're 1700 miles away then the easiest thing for them would be to get something new that can be set up the same as it was before.